54% to 70% of prisoners on parole in California are sent back to prison within three years because of new criminal offences. A programme known as Serving California is working to change that. 800 men and women are studying to get the equivalent of a bachelor's degree in theology in a three-and-a-half year programme and once they complete that programme, they graduate. It is biblically-based moral rehabilitation, and the good part about it is that it is also peer-to-peer evangelism in prison. The course is attempting to reverse the phenomenon of gangsterism inside a state prison and ‘basically take that citadel of evil back for Jesus Christ’. So far it has produced dramatic results, with 250 men and women paroled out and put on a Christian rehabilitation scheme with Christian parole officers assigned to graduates. To date their reoffending rate over a five-year period is about 7%.

Now that Nigeria is making headway against Boko Haram, it faces the challenge created by terrorists voluntarily surrendering their weapons. How can the country reintegrate former fighters into society and ensure they won’t become a future security threat? The current solution involves a rehabilitation camp established by the Nigerian military to repatriate surrendered Boko Haram fighters and encourage others to abandon the insurgency. Operation Safe Corridor will take terrorists through vocational training sessions to help them become productive citizens, said defence ministry spokesman Rabe Abubakar. He urged other fighters still on the loose to surrender and benefit from the programme, saying that the onslaught against the remnant of the terrorists would continue and not relent until the power of evil in the northeast is completely neutralised. Recently emaciated fighters begging for food have surrendered at military bases after food supply routes to the terrorists’ camps were blocked.

This year, Passover begins on 22 April evening and ends on 30 April evening. The festival is an opportunity for the Jewish nation to rejoice with family and commemorate their liberation from slavery in ancient Egypt. It marks the gift of freedom in the land of Israel and pays tribute to its Biblical heritage. However, for almost two million modern-day Israelis in poverty and hunger, there is no real cause for celebration or joy. Shocking statistics recently released in the Israel National Insurance Institute’s annual poverty report stated that 1.7 million Israelis, including 800,000 children, live below the poverty line. Pray for relief centres across the country supplying foodstuffs; for the elderly living alone being matched with host families for Passover; and for suitable care for children when schools are closed for nearly three weeks, placing additional strain on already struggling families.

The Attawapiskat First Nation of 2,000 people living in Ontario declared a state of emergency on Saturday after eleven of its members tried taking their own lives this month and twenty-eight tried to do so in March, according to papers provided by a local politician. The declaration was signed by Chief Bruce Shisheesh of the remote northern community. The MP for the area said, ‘This is a systemic crisis. There's not been a serious response from any level of government until now.’ Canada's 1.4 million aboriginals, making up 4% of the population, have higher levels of poverty and a lower life expectancy than other Canadians, and are more often victims of violent crime, addiction and incarceration. The First Nation government is sending a crisis response unit with two mental health counsellors to the community following Saturday’s declaration. Pray for God to direct their responses and give them favour and for God’s will be done.

Who would have believed that the group that is beheading, burning alive and drowning in cages the supposed enemies of Allah would be afraid of girls? It is an oxymoron. On the one hand, IS fighters buy and sell teenaged sex slaves - 3,000 Iraqi women and girls have been forced to service IS fighters at sex slave brothels. On the other hand, these 'brave' fighters all have a recurring nightmare that they will be killed by a girl. For them, that is a shame that Allah cannot excuse. Therefore, the Kurdish army has 7,000 female fighters, all trained and dressed in uniforms of battle, taking combat to IS. They are brave and determined and will never forget the powerful role they played in saving their people. IS beware, Kurdish girls are coming after you! See also

Textbooks in Pakistan’schools have become more antagonistic to Christians. A new report says, ‘The trend towards a more biased curriculum against religious minorities is accelerating. These grossly generalised and stereotypical portrayals of religious minority communities signal that they are untrustworthy, religiously inferior, ideo slogically scheming, and intolerant.’ The report, released on 12 April in Washington, is sponsored by the Commission on International Religious Freedom, an advisory body to the US Congress and state department. By law, the commission’s assessments of religious freedom in other countries are required to figure in American diplomatic relations around the globe. The report says that school textbooks represent the political perspectives and national ideologies of whole educational and government systems. As such, they are one of the most important indicators of official and popular perspectives of the cultural and political communities they depict, both in words and images.

Healing broke out in morning worship at Coastlands Church in Sussex. Nurse Julia Abbotts had injured her right shoulder through lifting elderly patients. For three months she had been ‘in agony’. Then in a Sunday morning church service Julia found herself raising her arm above her head - an impossible feat for the past three months! Beaming, she asked to share her good news with the church. Then, after Julia had testified to healing, church member Chris McCanna thought he should share his good news too. Chris had hurt his arm two weeks previously while moving a heavy ladder. Moving his arm was painful and restricted to shoulder height. Then while singing with the church’s worship group about God’s ability to ‘break every chain’, he raised his arms in worship and realised that all pain in his arm was gone. Chris had been looking to God to heal him and was not disappointed.

‘As the generation that will become the leaders in our two countries in the future we, as young people, can tread paths to increase our understanding of one another, in a way that no adult politician can.’ This is a statement of a participant in a German-Israeli youth exchange programme. More than 9,000 young people and students from both countries each year take part in exchange programmes, which the Family Ministry supports financially. On behalf of many interested partner organisations in Israel, the German Youth Exchange Coordination Centre ‘ConAct’ looks for youth workers and organisations in Germany who want to set up exchange projects with Israel. This year partners will be introduced to each other in a two-part seminar. The first part is from10 to15 April in Israel, the second part in Germany from 29 May to 3 June.

From 29 April to 1 May there will be a Nordic Apostolic-Prophetic Watchmen gathering in Norway, where intercessors will be calling on the Lord to fulfil his prophecies for their land.Here are just four of the countries’ cries prior to the event. Sweden: Let’s pray that in every city the Lord will lift up someone He has chosen, often in prophetic calling, to blow the trumpet summoning believers to come together from different churches to pray for their city. Norway: We pray that the Lord will raise up those blowing the shofar in the cities and towns of Norway for intercessors to come together for their city, and that those whom God has called to start a prayer centre will seek the Lord and be bold in the work. Denmark: for mobilising God’s army in Denmark and preparing the Body of Christ to rise up to its destiny. Finland: for God to place the five-fold ministry gifts in the Body of Christ throughout Finland. See http://kingsministries.fi/europe/?lang=en

Iceland's coalition government has appointed a new prime minister, a day after Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson stepped aside in the wake of the Panama Papers scandal. It is unclear whether the move will satisfy angry Icelanders. Protesters, already fed up with the financial and political elite after the 2008 banking crisis wrecked their economy, have gathered on the last three nights in Reykjavik, some pelting parliament with yoghurt and eggs. Iceland has struggled to recover from the 2008 collapse of its highly indebted banks, the fall of a government, and the jailing of many bankers. Many Icelanders still harbour a strong distrust of their leaders. Pray for Iceland’s Christian radio Lindin as it reaches 90% of the population.